Pubdate: Fri, 24 Dec 2004 Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA) Copyright: 2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer Contact: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/408 Author: Christine Frey, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts) DRUG COURTS ARE NOT A RIGHT, JUSTICES RULE Supreme Court Says It's Up To Counties, Not State The state Supreme Court ruled yesterday that drug offenders do not have a constitutional right to go through a drug court program to avoid a felony conviction. Katharine Keithley and Melody Harner each sued the state after they were separately convicted of drug possession. The counties in which they were arrested did not offer a drug court, which would have allowed the women to receive treatment instead of jail time. King County has a drug court. Attorneys for the women argued that the lack of drug courts in the counties violated the women's rights to equal protection or due process, but the court unanimously rejected those arguments yesterday. In a decision written by Justice Charles Johnson, the court noted that the Legislature did not require all counties to establish drug courts. "Because establishment of a drug court could effectively promote frugal use of state and local resource in one county but drain local and state resource in another, the structure of (the law) achieves the Legislature's purpose of allowing each county the choice of establishing a drug court program and structuring any such program," the decision said. The court also noted that the Legislature did not establish the drug courts as an entitlement for defendants. So drug offenders have no constitutional rights to be tried in drug courts. In a separate decision, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that a defendant accused of killing four people in Des Moines could present evidence of insanity at trial though he declined to answer questions from the state's medical experts. The court also said that the prosecution could introduce evidence of the defendant's refusal to answer at trial, but the state could not use that evidence to suggest the defendant is sane. Leemah Carneh pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity after being charged in 2001 with four counts of aggravated first-degree murder in the deaths of Richard and Leola Larson, their 17-year-old grandson, Taelor Marks, and his girlfriend, Josie Peterson. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek